Current-collecting shoe.



No. 795,247. PATENTBD JULY 18, 1905. W. M. BROWN. CURRENT COLLECTING SHOE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 26. 1903.

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WITNESSES:

mnacmumnmunmmmwwmmuc NTTED STATES Patented July 18, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

XVILLIAM MILTON BROWN, OF JOHNSTOWVN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE LORAIN STEEL COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

CURRENT-COLLECTING SHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 795,247, dated July 18, 1905.

Application filed January 26, 1903. Serial No. 140,606.

To (tZZ whom it nuty concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM MILTON BROWN, of J ohnstown, in the county of (Jambria and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Current- Oollecting Shoes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

I 0 My invention has relation to current-collecting shoes for use in connection with surfacecontact electric-railway systems. As ordinarily constructed heretofore these shoes have consisted of a continuous piece of conducting material of sufficient length to reach from one surface contact to another, connected to a suitable support or carrier, with resilient material interposed to permit a vertical yielding of the shoe in operation. By

reason of this continuous collecting and conducting strip it sometimes happens in practice that in passing a crossing or branching track electrical connection will be established between said strip and the rail or rails of said track, thereby making a direct short circuit for that portion of the supply system. This is generally caused by scraps of iron or steel picked up by the car-magnets in passing through the streets and which become disposed in such a manner as to make contact with the collecting-strip and with the said rails. Furthermore, with a shoe thus constructed in passing over the boxes and over obstructions in the street the vertical yield- 3 5 ing movement of the collecting-strip cannot be localized, but extends throughout a considerable portion of the length of the shoe. This produces an unnecessary amount of friction and consequent wear between the shoe and the contacts.

My present object is to produce a shoe which will obviate these objections; and my invention consists in a shoe composed of a plurality of short sections or units, each of which is electrically and mechanically independent of the other sections or units and is active only at such times as it is itself directly in engagement with a surface contact.

The sections being electrically independent and of insufficient length to simultaneously 5 engage a contact and an adjacent crossing or branching rail, the occurrence of short circuits in the manner above described is effectually prevented, and being also mechanically independent each section may be given just sufl icient yielding or spring action to insure a proper electrical engagement between it and the contacts.

Myinvention also consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, all substantially as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure l is a side vie w, partly broken away, 5 of a contact-shoe embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a transverse vertical section ,on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, enlarged; and Fig. 3, a sectional view showing a portion of the shoe on a larger scale. 7

The letter A designates a supporting bar or carrier, of wood or other insulating material, which is attached to the car-trucks by bolts to or by any other suitable means, and B is a continuous strip of copper or other 7 5 conducting material secured to the under side thereof.

O designates the shoe sections or units, which are pivoted at 0 in bushings d, seated in parallel pieces D, of wood or other insulating 8o material. D represents lateral strips, which cover the openings in which the bushings (Z are seated. These sections or units are arranged in longitudinal series, as shown, each section being constructed in such shape that 5 its pivot-arm will overhang the shoe portion of the succeeding section or unit, there being but a comparatively short break between adjacent sections. Transverse pins E, engaging shoulders 00f the sections, prevent them 9 from dropping below their normal horizontal positions. Secured to each section is a springarrn F, carrying a contact piece or button F, which normally lies a short distance below the contact-strip B.

The operation of the shoe will be readily understood. As each section or unit comes into engagement with one of the surface contacts H, Fig. 3, it is raised thereby sufficiently to engage the button F with the strip B, and. current passes from said contact through the section-spring F and the said button F to the strip B and thence by a conductor G to the car-motors. The springs F are put under suflicient tension as the sections or units are raised to insure a good electrical engagement with the surface contacts. It will be noted that the sections or units are so arranged that before one of them looses its engagementwith a contact H, the succeeding one is engaged therewith. The circuit is therefore never entirely broken, and destructive arcingbetween the buttons F and the strip B is also avoided.

it will be obvious that the sections or units C may be constructed in various forms and that various other changes maybe made in the details of construction and arrangement without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. Hence I do not wish to be limited to the particular construction, arrangement, and combination of parts which I have herein shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

ductor carried thereby, a plurality of short separate contact sections or units separately pivoted to said support, means for limiting the movement of said sections or units on their pivots, and a spring-contact arm carried by each section and arranged. to engage the said conductor.

3. A contact-shoe of the character described, having a plurality of separately-movable electrically-independent contact sections or units, a conductor adjacent to but normally separated from said sections or units, and elastic members interposed between the sections or units and the said conductor.

4:. In a contact-shoe of the character described, a conductor, a short vertically-movable contact-piece below the conductor and making contact therewith by upward movement, and an elastic member arranged to exert a downward pressure on said contact-piece when it is in engagement with the said conductor.

5. A contact-shoe for the purpose described, having a plurality of separately-movable electrically independent short sections, a conductor adjacent to but normally separated from the said sections, and a spring-arm connected to each section and carrying a contact device at its free end portion arranged to en gage the said conductor when the section engages a roadway contact device.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM MILTON BROl/V N \Vitnesses:

Lonn'rro OCONNELL, H. W. SMITH. 

